Charter schools are public schools that are a part of Florida’s program of public education. The School Board of Palm Beach County is the sponsor of the charter schools located in Palm Beach County, Florida.

The School District of Palm Beach County is the sponsor of 48 charter schools as of August 2017. The Charter Department provides academic, financial, operational and technical assistance to these charter schools.

New Charter School Applications:

The New Charter School Applicant Training will be held on November 15, 2018 from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the rear of the cafeteria of Fulton Holland Educational Services Center (The School District Building). Please RSVP to jessica.sills@palmbeachschools.org by November 12, 2018.

Charter School Student Enrollment Process

Student Eligibility

A charter school in Palm Beach County, Florida shall be open to any student covered in an inter-district agreement or residing in the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida. However, in the case of a charter lab school, the charter lab school shall be open to any student eligible to attend the lab school as provided in Florida Statute 1002.32 or who resides in the school district in which the charter lab school is located.

Student Enrollment

The charter school shall enroll an eligible student who submits a timely application, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building, In such case, all applicants shall have an equal chance of being admitted through a random election process.

Transportation Services

Transportation of charter school students is provided by the charter school as defined in Florida statute 1002.33 subsection (20) Services subparagraph (c).

Process for Opening a Charter School

In summary, a party interested in opening a Charter School with the School District of Palm Beach County as its Sponsor must successfully complete all of the following actions and received approval from the School Board of Palm Beach County. Specific details concerning this topic can be obtained by calling James Pegg, Director, Department of Charter Schools at (561) 434-8779.

Charter school applications are due to the sponsor (school district) by February 1st of each calendar year for charter schools to be opened at the beginning of the school district's next school year, or to be opened at a time agreed to by the applicant and the sponsor.

In addition, section 1002.33(6), F.S., requires charter school applicants to submit an application on the Model Florida Charter School Application developed by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). The sponsor must then review the application using the Florida Charter School Application Evaluation Instrument evaluation instrument also developed by FDOE.

Applications for the 2020-21 school year are to be submitted by February 1, 2019 at 5:00 P.M. to theCharter Tools Site.

Appeals

Section 1002.33(6)(c), F.S., provides that a charter school applicant may appeal any denial of that applicant's application or failure to act on an application to the State Board of Education no later than 30 calendar days after receipt of the sponsor's decision or failure to act and shall notify the sponsor of its appeal.

Support

Technical support is available year-round. You may contact the Department of Charter Schools at (561) 434-8189 to schedule a meeting regarding Charter School Applications prior to the February 1st submission date.

NOTICE: Under Florida law, email addresses are public record. If you do not want your email addresses released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. To report waste, fraud, corruption, or abuse, please call the Inspector General Hotline: (855) 561-1010.

Translation Disclaimer

Thank you for visiting the Palm Beach County School District’s website (“Website”). The Website can be translated into many different languages using Google™ Translate, a third party service (the “Service”) that provides automated computer translations of web pages. The Google™ Translate Service is offered to you ("User" or “You”) as a public service at no cost.

PLEASE READ THIS DISCLAIMER CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SERVICE.

While Google's translation service uses state-of-the-art technology, it does so without the intervention of human translators. Thus, the translations provided as part of the Service are only an approximation of the Website’s original content. You should not rely on Google™ Translate to provide an exact translation of the Website. NOT all text may be translated correctly and some portions of the Website may not be translated at all. Some files and other items cannot be translated, including but not limited to, graphical buttons, drop down menus, graphics, and photos. In addition, some applications and/or services may not work as expected when translated.

The School District has no control over the nature, content, and availability of the Service, and accordingly, cannot guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of the translation. Neither the members of the School Board, nor the schools or employees of the School District, accept liability for any inaccuracies or errors in the translation or liability for any loss, damage, or other problem, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising from or in connection with use of the Google™ Translate Service.